Morningside Reinvents Orange County Senior Living With Wine Room, Lounges, Cafe

FULLERTON, CA–(Marketwired – Apr 25, 2014) –  Forget the image of senior dining featuring boring buffets, institutional décor and tranquil mood music. At Morningside of Fullerton, the continuing care retirement community in Fullerton, Calif., pizza ovens, smoothies, a wine room, and a casual bar and lounge will be the order of the day after a major renovation is completed this summer.

Morningside (www.morningsideoffullerton.com) recently launched an extensive renovation of its clubhouse dining facilities. The 13,500-square-foot dining and kitchen area, which encompasses the entire downstairs space of the community’s clubhouse, will be totally re-imagined as part of a national senior living trend http://www.morningsideoffullerton.com/independent-living toward cozier, more casual dining.

The new dining facilities will include:

• an expanded “Pacific Lounge” featuring a brick-oven pizzeria, casual wine bar, TV screens and chefs cooking in an open kitchen concept;
• the “Napa Room” offering themed private dining in a wine cellar décor for a cozier experience, catering to smaller luncheons and dinner parties; and
• a “Grab N Go Café” where residents can place specialty food orders for custom-built sandwiches, salads and smoothies as well as desserts, snacks, soups, coffees, beverages and take-away meals.

Morningside will continue to offer formal and informal dining options where residents can receive table service and order off menus that change on a daily basis. The formal seating area is being completely redesigned to make dining more intimate by creating separate environments with different interior design motifs.

One of the newly created spaces in the formal dining area will be the Club Room featuring an elegant interior with all-glass double doors and nautical-themed wall art. The Club Room will be available for special occasions such as family birthday celebrations and anniversaries.

Another new element will be booth, or banquette, seating that wraps around the bottom level of the stairwell leading up to the main upper level promenade reception area. Morningside will also expand its outdoor patio and garden dining areas.

The dining room renovations will be conducted in four phases in order to minimize disruption to the current dining service with completion of all phases anticipated for late summer 2014. E. Justin Wilson, III, managing partner for Morningside, is overseeing the renovation which was designed by architects KTGY Group Inc. of Irvine, Calif. Cole Martinez Curtis and Associates of Marina del Rey, Calif., is the interior design firm with Culp Construction Co. of Irvine handling general contracting services.

“National trends in senior dining indicate that people want more options than the typical, more formal sit-down model with servers and menus,” Wilson said. “Quality, tasty food is hugely important for seniors living in retirement communities. Just as important is the option to dine in a variety of settings based on your schedule and appetite on any particular day, and whether you’re interested in formal group dining, more casual dining or just a quick meal. We are very excited about these new dining concepts and look forward to a grand re-opening later this year.”

Morningside of Fullerton represents the ultimate in Orange County senior living with 327 independent living residences (including duplex and single-family villas); a comprehensive package of services, amenities, activities, fine dining and transportation, and long-term care. It is adjacent to Park Vista, a state-of-the-art health center featuring a 54-unit assisted living residence community, a 99-bed skilled nursing center and a newly reconstructed physical, occupational and speech therapy center. Morningside is also less than a mile from St. Jude Medical Center, one of Southern California’s most respected hospitals. For more news and videos on Morningside, go to http://bit.ly/1ikR7MF.